Episode #299: Kyle Maynard – “The World Will Not Be Tailored To Your Every Need” (Scaling Kilimanjaro)
Kyle Maynard is a motivational speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and ESPY award-winning mixed martial arts athlete, known for becoming the first quadruple amputee to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Aconcagua without the aid of prosthetics.
Oprah Winfrey called Kyle “one of the most inspiring young men you will ever hear about.” Arnold Schwarzenegger described him as “the real deal,” “a champion human,” and “one of the most inspiring people” he’s ever met. Even the great Wayne Gretzky has spoken of Kyle’s “greatness.”
Despite being born with a rare condition known as congenital amputation, that has left him with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end near his knees, he learned early on with the support of his family, to live life independently and without prosthetics. Kyle thrives on physical challenges and following a few rough middle school football seasons; he went on to become a champion wrestler, CrossFit Certified Instructor and gym owner, competitive MMA/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter, world record-setting weightlifter, and skilled mountaineer.
If you’re interested in our new online course, The Learning Leader Academy, go to RyanHawk.me
Check out my new speaker video:
Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio
The Learning Leader Show
“The world will not be tailored for your every need.”
Show Notes:
- Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
- Consistent action… Plotting
- Life is a marathon
- “I’ve struggled with this.”
- “We live in a society that we think we have to reach the summit”
- “Climb as hard as you can but relinquish the fact that you’ve ever arrived.” It will never be enough to fulfill you.
- “You’ve never arrived, you’re always becoming.”
- “I question what we’re driven towards.”
- Losing the first 35 matches… His dad told him that no wrestlers win in their first year and convinced him to go back for his second year
- “What you’re looking for, you’re going to find.”
- A self-efficacy belief. It’s in your deeper nervous system… It becomes automatic. His dad planted the seed.
- “We have this illusion in our head, but it doesn’t happen overnight.”
- “The world will not be tailored for your every need.”
- “We are softening the edges, we need to learn how to mentally deal with things.”
- “We need to choose conscious suffering.”
- “Voluntary hardship”
- The power of meeting veterans in an airport on a way to giving motivational speeches
- “It shifted, it wasn’t about me.” The message helped veterans not commit suicide.
- “It’s B.S. to think anyone is self-made. We all need help.” The ripple effect.
- Why climb?
- “I want to experience the world. Just did scuba dive at the Great Barrier reef.”
- Crawling 19,340 feet in just ten days… Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
- “Focus on that next three feet in front of you…” Just the next step. Before you know it, you put your head up and you’re at your destination
- Reminds me of Alison Levine — “Just put one foot in front of the other and take that next step. Just keep going.”
- “I don’t know if I have enough in the tank, but I’m going to keep going.”
- “The 3 feet in front of you is the only thing that matters”
- “Anything is possible is a lie… Tell the truth, know how to test your limits”
- “What gets measured gets done”
- How long can you enjoy accomplishments?
- “It’s a weird dance.”
- “What I’m learning to do now is plotting the essence of it…”
- Favorite book: Empire Of The Summer Moon
- Fasting: “When you fast (don’t eat), your body picks the weakest cells and eats them.” There is a lot of science to support fasting
- Advice to others:
- Value money but not too much
- Have a small number of possessions
- Namaste = “Light inside of me. Recognize light inside of you.”
- Take calculated risk, go on adventures
- “Follow your bliss”
- The story of David Foster Wallace — Don’t compare yourself to others. He’s one of the greatest writers ever but compared himself to others and felt horrible about himself. And eventually took his own life. Only compare yourself versus your previous self.
- Use the “Get To Know You Document“
- Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea
“You never conquer a mountain. You stand on the summit a few brief minutes, and then the wind blows your footsteps away.”
Social Media:
- Follow Kyle on Twitter: @kylemaynard
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
- To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12
More Learning:
Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon
Episode 216: Jim Collins — How To Go From Good To Great
Episode 200: Keith Hawk & AJ Hawk — Showing Up, Doing The Work, Earning Trust, Helping Others, Winning The Super Bowl, Celebrating #200
Episode 234: Jocko Willink — Why Discipline Equals Freedom
[…] to the latest episode of Learning Leader (#299 with Kyle Maynard) one of the things struck me is the question when we have […]